End Spectator Fees at OCR Events

It costs a lot to be an obstacle racer. From your 5K mud runs up to your Tough Mudders and Spartan Beasts, registration costs are no small potatoes. On top of that, you get hit with plenty of other fees: mandatory insurance fees, parking fees, bag check fees, etc.

But probably the most distasteful fee charged by OCR companies is the spectator fee.

Spectator fees for adults at many of these events are usually $20 or more. (Kids often pay $10; such a bargain). It is a pure cash grab where companies that are already making a huge profit off each event are picking the pocket of their loyal customers.


I don't begrudge any company trying to make a large profit. But here you have companies - who reap significant benefits just having spectators at their races - trying to squeeze every nickel and dime they can from the friends and family (and often children) of their racers; friends and family who they know are going to want to be at the course to share in an event with their loved (or maybe just liked or tolerated) participant.

It would seem in these companies' best interest to want to throw open their events for spectators. For one thing, it promotes their product. These spectators return to their workplaces, their schools, their circles of friends and families, and they tell everyone about these crazy races where people are doing extraordinary and exciting things. You can't buy that kind of publicity. Further, among the spectators themselves, I bet it's perfectly reasonable to calculate that roughly 1-out-of-5 of those non-participants are going to see that race and think it's something they'd like to try. Heck, even if it's 1-out-of-10, that's pretty good advertising.

Besides promoting their product, there's the economic impact that these companies love to pitch to resorts and local communities. Free entry means more spectators, which means more people buying food and drinks, more people buying merchandise, more people getting hotel rooms, more people going to local restaurants after the event.

Instead, these companies grab the easy cash, knowing you don't want to pay it, but also knowing you'll feel guilty if you don't and you'll do it because you want to show your love and support for the participant. (It's not unlike those crappy elementary school photos, where they charge you a small fortune for horrible photos of your kid, even though you have taken a million other photos, all of which are better. But they know you'll pay it, because you'll be ridden with guilt if you don't. They have you trapped.)

Maybe these companies might claim that the spectator fee helps cover operational costs. But what operational costs? Running the ski lift during the day if you're at a ski resort? Needing additional staff at a resort's hotel or restaurant? Hard to believe those aren't offset by the benefits of having crowds of people there. Additional security? Medical staff? Bathroom facilities? Hard to believe that giving spectators free entry would stress an event's operational staff to such an extent. And what are spectators paying for now? If those costs aren't covered in our already expensive registration fees, it certainly makes you wonder how much of a profit they make off each race registration.

Charging expensive spectator fees is just plain distasteful. And it hinders the growth of our sport. If you have to charge something, charge $5. No spectator fee should ever be north of $10. And, quite frankly, there's no good argument for any fee.

These companies need to end spectator fees, and we need to support those companies that do that.